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One of the Smartest Animal Species Around... And You Probably Wouldn't Have Guessed It.

We've all been there: You're at the dog park or taking your dog on a walk and someone stops to talk to you. They just have to tell you about their dog and every detail about him/her. Oftentimes, they'll tell you how smart they're little guy or girl is. "Spot is definitely smarter than some people. They know when to smile and can do hundreds of tricks."

Cats and cat owners are no different. They'll tell you how their cat sneakily figured out a way to get into its food bin, or how it tried to comfort them while they were sad. There's no doubt that cats are just as intelligent as dogs and have plenty of examples to back it up.

If you needed any other examples of dog and cat intelligence, how about the fact that canines can be trained to be police dogs, service dogs for those with disabilities, and used for herding large animals over long distance. Cats meanwhile can sufficiently hunt birds and mice on farms, and learn behavior patterns of other animals to find prime opportunities to pounce. But are these household species the most intelligent animal on the planet? We're not sure, but we do know that there are two species that you would never expect to be in the same class (or a class above) in the brain department.

Crows.

That's right, crows might be some of the smartest animals on the planet when it comes to critical thinking and using observations to make decisions in the future. Crows have been observed to bring objects like coins and cigarettes to humans as a trade for food. They've even been observed dropping nuts in the road so cars can crack them open! Here's a few examples of crows displaying they're incredible intellect:

Crow making a tool to get food:

Two crows reading out-loud:

Crow sledding:

Crow playing fetch with ball and dog:

Clearly crows are capable of pretty complex tasks. Remember this is just what has been caught on video, imagine what else they're capable of! Just remember, intelligence can be a pretty subjective measurement. Depending on what you're measuring and what you're looking for, its measurement can give significantly different results.